


Summer Morning (Natsu no Asa)

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Reality, Dialogue, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2020-04-07 16:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19088548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: During the Fourth Grail War, Saber finds herself in a different reality for a short while.





	1. An unknown garden

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place at some unspecified point during Fate/Zero, randomly between episode 5 and 23. Hope you enjoy :)))
> 
> Title: from a Kalafina song, B-side of their 19th single. The titles of the chapters are lyrics from the song (translated by the canta-per-me forum) :)

…

……

…

Waking up in the morning was always slightly difficult when sleep turned out to last a surprisingly short amount of time. As a Servant, sleep wasn’t something she necessarily needed, but it wasn’t something she rejected either.

Remaining under the warm covers and indulging herself wasn’t however something Saber would ever allow herself to do, especially when she suddenly realized that she didn’t recall the sheets at the Einzbern mansion to be anywhere near comfortable.

Another reason why it was extremely important that she wake up fully was that what had stirred her in the first place was the feeling of foreign lips pressing against hers softly.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly, instinctively reaching behind her as if to summon her invisible sword – yet she was once again taken aback when she couldn’t feel any mana responding to her call.

Adjusting to the light after blinking a couple of times, Saber’s mouth almost dropped open in shock when she took in the strange room she was in, not to mention the person who was sitting in front of her.

Staring at her with a slightly bemused expression, Archer – the one she had long since realized was the hero Gilgamesh – tilted his head to the side. And if his presence next to her, in an unknown bedroom and in a generous state of undress, wasn’t enough to astonish her, the words he pronounced certainly were.

“Good morning, love. I saw you tossing and turning a few times in your sleep–… are you well?”

Saber slid away from him rapidly, noticing as she did so that her body felt somewhat odd under the covers. A quick glance down made her instantly pull the sheets up, since she was only wearing a light nightgown that did very little to preserve modesty.

She glared at the man sitting on the edge of the bed – a large king size bed, she noticed.

“What on earth are you doing in a bedroom with me, Archer?! And where are my clothes?!”

Now he seemed decidedly confused, and a frown appeared on his face.

“Love, what are you–”

“How dare you call me that,” she interrupted him harshly. “What is this place and what are you doing here?!” Pulling the covers closer with a firm movement, she forced him to stand up from the bed. “Move away from me!”

Now that he was standing, she had leisure to observe him better. Or at least, she would have done so, if she hadn’t been finding the whole situation too peculiar to focus on anything. He was wearing only a pair of loose pyjama pants, his hair was down and he looked like he had recently woken up as well.

He was staring at her with just the same amount of confusion as before, even though there was now some wariness in his crimson eyes as well.

“This is our home,” he said slowly, still observing her intently as he began to answer her questions. “We chose it together nine years ago, when we got married. And I’ve always been Gilgamesh to you, not Archer. I live here with you – and with our children.”

Saber blinked, several times in a row, too stunned to be able to comprehend what he had just said. Before she could react in a more dignified matter, there was suddenly a knock on the door, immediately followed by a loud noise as it was opened in a rush and three young kids ran inside.

As they rapidly advanced towards the bed, Saber’s eyes widened as she stared at their features, flabbergasted; whatever she thought about the strange situation she was in, she could not deny that those three children looked like a perfect mix of Gilgamesh and herself. They were all blonde, of unspecified age – though the older one probably wasn’t eight yet – and while the girl had unmistakable crimson eyes, the two boys had vibrant green irises, her very own colour.

They seemed to be healthy and happy kids, Saber considered distractedly, as they approached the bed and prepared to jump on it jubilantly–

But before they could do so, Gilgamesh suddenly took a step forward so that he was between them and the woman sitting on the bed, still holding the bed sheets tightly around herself.

“Your mother is not feeling well this morning,” he told them in a stern tone that didn’t however mask any of his obvious affection for them. “Go outside, Uncle Enkidu has prepared a surprise in the garden for you.”

The children squealed in excitement and turned to leave, but before doing so they still lingered a few more seconds, to get a glimpse of their mother in order to wish her a quick recovery.

Saber, completely shocked, could only stare after them as they left and closed the door when they did so.

The man next to her, Gilgamesh – though in her mind he would remain Archer – gave her a strange, contemplative look.

“You’re not Arturia,” he decided then, catching her off guard. “Whatever happened tonight made my wife’s spirit leave this body and have someone else take her place.” He gave her a mild glare that for the first time actually reminded her of the Archer she was more familiar with. “Where is my wife? And to be clear – _who are you?_ ”

Saber held his gaze, feeling a mild headache beginning to make her head pulse, but she felt slightly more in control now that they seemed to be on the same page – namely, wanting to understand what was happening.

She pondered briefly; since she was clearly in a different place – maybe even a different _reality_ – it was in her interest to be as honest as possible, as it was probably the only way to find a solution to this strange paradoxical situation.

“My name is Arturia Pendragon, even though I’m currently known as Saber,” she therefore replied. “I have no knowledge about the existence of any other Arturia, which means that I don’t know anything about your wife.”

Seeing a man who looked like Archer’s twin be so concerned about his wife – a wife who apparently looked exactly like her – was certainly surreal.

“I think I’m from a different world,” she admitted then, “or at least that’s what it seems like to me. Before waking up here, I was part of a War, where I fought for my Master in order to obtain a magical artefact known as Holy Grail–”

“–in order to express a wish on it if you defeat all the other participants?” Gilgamesh unexpectedly completed, and she stared at him in surprise, which quickly turned into suspicion.

Before she could question him, he saw her eyes narrow and lifted his eyebrow.

“Arturia and I watched an animated series recently.” He looked decidedly reluctant when he admitted it. “Among its main characters there’s one exactly like you.” His eyes seemed to burn a hole through her. “You were summoned as a Servant. You are King Arthur.”

Saber had thought she had already been surprised enough during the past few minutes, but it appeared that she had been mistaken. She tried to take in the information she had just received: this man knew her identity and her world because he had _watched a series_ about it?

“Worry not, I will not reveal its conclusion to you,” he added, his tone light, in stark contrast to his eyes, which were looking at her somewhat coldly. “All I want is to have my wife back. And if you are trapped here – it probably means that Arturia is _there_ , in your place.”

She frowned for a moment, thinking about his words, and then observed, with some aloofness, “That’s a likely possibility, but she shouldn’t be in danger. I was asleep and didn’t rest much, which means that in my world,” she was talking in such an absurd way, now that she thought about it, even though it seemed to be the only possible explanation for her current predicament, “she is sleeping and unaware of what has happened. It’s true, however, that I can’t guarantee it.”

He didn’t seem very reassured by her report, but she hadn’t expected him to be. She kept staring at him, now with some slight curiosity; it was truly odd to see such genuine concern on Archer’s face.

However, she wasn’t going to allow herself to ponder over the scientific opportunity of closely examining Archer’s identical persona in a different world; she had other priorities.

Looking at him with a frown, she asked with a shadow of suspicion, “How is it that you believe me so quickly when I say that I’m probably from a different world?”

A strange grin appeared on his lips, and it only made her frown deepen.

“I know my beloved wife well. Arturia would never invent this kind of joke, not even when she is playing with the children.”

He seemed more amenable now, and since – willing or not – she was almost certainly going to spend some time in this world, Saber took it as her chance to ask some more questions, about everything in this world – but especially about her current wardrobe.

Therefore, her tone slightly accusing, she went on, “Why am I wearing so little to sleep?”

His grin didn’t disappear, in fact, it noticeably widened.

“Because you don’t like sleeping naked.”

She frowned, and he visibly held back a sigh. “You clearly weren’t in this body last night, before sleeping, were you?”

Her brow remained furrowed for another second before she understood what he was implying, and her expression became indignant.

“I would never sleep with you!” she exclaimed, affronted.

He seemed actually amused by her outrage and gave her a vaguely teasing look.

“Saber,” it felt odd to hear him use her title, but it also felt strangely familiar at the same time, “you have seen with your own eyes that Arturia and I have children. How exactly to you think they were conceived?”

She was not going to blush – she was _not_ going to blush – but since she didn’t have an adequate reply, she was forced to fume in silence. It irritated her that the man in front of her talked so casually about having sexual relations with her–

But that was not true. Archer – or rather, as she had to keep reminding herself, Gilgamesh – had sexual relations _with his wife_ , the one whose body she was currently trapped in. While the idea of sleeping with Archer did not sit well with her, it was true that he had not asked anything like that from her; he had simply told her what had been happening in the world she knew nothing about, and he had told her this at her request.

Gilgamesh’s expression was strange as he kept staring at her.

“In this world, Arturia and I have three children,” he repeated, and his eyes travelled down her body to then linger on the place where he knew her stomach was, even hidden by the bed sheets. “With a fourth on the way.”

Taken aback, Saber looked down as well and pressed her hands against the strange form of her belly. Indeed, there was a small, unfamiliar bulge in the lower region, which finally explained why she had felt an odd weight there earlier.

The sudden realization that there was a human life growing inside her made her able to grasp the full reality of her strange situation: it truly seemed that he had told her the truth. The Arturia who lived in this world, the woman with her face and body, was married to Gilgamesh and had children with him.

Saber was shocked by the mere idea, as it was completely, utterly and impossibly _foreign_.

She liked children, had always liked them – but having kids herself? It was something she had never even contemplated, nor was she ever going to. Her counterpart truly appeared not to have anything in common with her except for physical appearance, because being nothing but a procreating wife was… it was… it was simply _preposterous_.

Saber looked around the room again. She was in a different world, a world about which she knew very little, but it was clear to her that it was too alien for her to ever accept it. She could never even come to _acknowledge_ that there was a universe where a woman who looked like her was reduced to being merely a wife and mother. It had nothing to do with her, with who she was.

“How is this kind of version of me even possible?” she muttered to herself, momentarily forgetting that she wasn’t alone. “This isn’t me. _This isn’t me._ I could never be a housewife and a stay-at-home mother to care for my children, no matter how much I loved them.”

There was even some disgust in her voice as she tried to face such a possibility. There was of course nothing wrong with making such a choice, with choosing to dedicate herself to her children, but it wasn’t something she would ever be able to accept for herself.

To her slight surprise, however, Gilgamesh cleared his throat – reminding her that he was there – and raised both eyebrows at her.

“I know that perfectly well,” he told her. “And indeed, Arturia… or you… is neither a housewife nor a stay-at-home mother.”

It was Saber’s turn to raise her eyebrows, but he wasn’t deterred from his calm comments.

“You obviously don’t know since you are unfamiliar with this world, but you have a job that you take very seriously – in fact, you have _three_ jobs.” He shook his head, almost exasperated by what he needed to explain. “We talked about balancing work and family at length at the very beginning of our marriage, when you became pregnant. You currently work as a driving instructor four days a week. Every other weekend you volunteer at a women shelter and twice a month you help out with paperwork and duties at the war veterans office.”

He suddenly took a step closer to her, his eyes now staring at her sharply. “We both knew from the beginning that you didn’t want children if it meant giving up your life and becoming a slave to their education. Of course you wouldn’t neglect them or ignore them or dump them on a baby-sitter or caretaker, but you would not give up on your goals and aspirations in order to have a family. I agreed because it was the same for me. And since we knew that we could have both, we strived to obtain both.”

His eyes were piercing. “Don’t underestimate the Arturia who lives in a different world only because she didn’t have a kingdom to save.”

Saber could not deny the accuracy of his accusations, but it didn’t stop her from narrowing her eyes at him after she had considered his monologue.

“How was it possible to do both? Children require a lot of time–”

“And affection,” he interrupted her calmly. “It was possible by balancing the time accurately, of course.” He smirked slightly, and she blinked at such an impish expression. “Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I have a job that allows me considerable free time together with a substantial income, and the fact that I come from a relatively well-off family.”

Saber stared at him, suddenly feeling her headache increasing.

This world was different, yes, but even more different than she had assumed at first. There was no kingdom to save, which meant that here she – or the other Arturia – had a normal life, even an anonymous one, but where she could do her part, be herself _and_ not be detached from everyone. She could have more bonds with people, express her feelings more openly, maybe even her love.

Love. Now that was perhaps a bit of a stretch, but she might as well find out the truth. She had seen Kiritsugu and Irisviel being together, but didn’t believe it was out of love – at least not on _both_ their parts – and she therefore wondered if in this world, Arturia’s marriage had been arranged.

She cleared her throat and stared straight at Gilgamesh.

“Are we in love?”

She almost expected a scoff on his part and a disdainful comment, but what she received was instead a curious look as he held her gaze without blinking.

“You should know the answer to that. You would never have agreed to share your life with someone you didn’t respect, trust and yes, _love_ as well.”

She kept staring at him, willing to stifle her suddenly increased unease, and the strong pounding in her head.

“I’m not your Arturia,” she said slowly. “You don’t know me. And you don’t love _me_. You love _her_.”

To her slight surprise, he smiled. She hadn’t thought it possible for someone like Archer to _smile_ , but she had now stopped being always stunned by what this unfamiliar world had in store for her.

“That’s rather obvious. But you are in her body for now, and until she returns, I see no reason to hold back from telling you about her and how much she means to me.”

Saber’s green eyes widened slightly at his blunt and unabashed declaration, and she couldn’t help averting them after a speechless moment. She had truly underestimated the capability of this world to catch her by surprise.

Suddenly she felt like her head was starting to spin and she instinctually brought her hands to her temples, unsuccessfully attempting to prevent an odd fog from blurring her vision.

She heard the distant sound of Gilgamesh’s voice asking her if everything was fine, and that was the moment she knew that she was about to leave this strange reality to go back to her own world.

To her own surprise, she had mixed feelings about leaving. While she had no desire to stay as it was too strange, too unfamiliar and too dangerous, she could not deny that the short time she had spent there had given her a lot to think about.

It was of course entirely possible that this entire ‘visit’ had been nothing but a dream. Either way, she was not going to forget it anytime soon, especially since she had unintentionally understood that there were situations completely different from her own, completely foreign to her, but where a person who seemed reasonably similar to her could have a life that followed her principles nonetheless.

Everything that had happened was certainly going to require some thought. If only she had the opportunity to actually think more about it…

She knew however that the Fourth Holy Grail War still needed to be won before she could consider anything else, and she would do her best in order to actually win and give her fallen kingdom a second chance. The experience in this unusual world was not going to leave her memory, but it was no use getting lost in it; she had her own reality she needed to confront.

Once she woke up, she was going to wield her sword and fight once again.

When everything surrounding her turned from blurred to pitch black, Saber closed her eyes and let herself sink into it, knowing that she was going back to the War.

…

……

…


	2. An endless summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add a short sequel - this time however in Arturia's POV (the one married to Gilgamesh), not Saber's (the one from Fate/Zero). :)  
> (as usual, I'm [here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/) on tumblr)

…

……

…

With a gasp, Arturia’s upper body jerked forward in the bed, bringing her to a sitting position, and she snapped her eyes open.

Her head was spinning, and she focused on catching her breath, closing her eyes once again in order to attempt to gather herself and be able to determine whether or not she had come back to her world.

Familiar hands were suddenly on her shoulders, anchoring her and sending a burst of happiness through her. She was back. A glance towards the person who was holding her however showed that Gilgamesh seemed less pleased than her; in fact, he was looking at her with eyes full of wariness.

Immediately understanding the reason for his guardedness, she spoke as soon as she had enough air in her lungs to do so.

“I’m back, Gilgamesh – it’s me now–”

Perhaps it was her tone, or the fact that she called him by his name with an inflection that betrayed a long and intimate acquaintance, but the next moment, she was in his arms. Gilgamesh was holding her in a tight embrace, and even though he didn’t say a word for a long while, his relief was palpable.

Nine years of marriage hadn’t yet accustomed Arturia to open displays of affection coming from her husband, but after the first surprised second, she didn’t hesitate in returning the gesture, arms going around his neck and pulling him even closer to her. After all, while he was certainly glad to see her, she couldn’t deny that she wasn’t any less pleased than him.

They only separated when she noticed a little too much pressure on her lower abdomen, and she quickly released Gilgamesh to bring her hands to her bump. Thankfully, it seemed that her pregnancy hadn’t been affected by the incredibly odd experience she had just been through.

Gilgamesh’s arms remained around her body, and his lips stayed firmly against her temple, even as he murmured, “Love, Arturia, are you–?”

“I’m fine,” she reassured him before he could finish the question, well aware of how difficult it was for him to ask something like that.

“At least… physically,” she amended then, knowing perfectly that not telling the entire truth would not only _not_ escape Gilgamesh’s notice, it would also infuriate him. She wasn’t against teasing her husband occasionally, but their current predicament really didn’t warrant such light-hearted banter.

“I don’t know how it happened, nor do I know why, but something inexplicable occurred while I was asleep,” she started explaining. She didn’t attempt to leave Gilgamesh’s arms, and he gave no sign of wanting their position to change any time soon. “I was… in a strange situation. I think I was dreaming at first, but it quickly became too realistic for me to believe that. I was suddenly in a bedroom inside some sort of castle, where a woman who looked exactly like me was asleep in the bed. I knew she wasn’t me, but the similarity was striking. I only got a glimpse of that place and of her though, because then I was suddenly in this immense dark space, where there was nothing except what looked like a glass window.” She stopped for a moment. “I couldn’t go anywhere from there, I could only watch. I saw _my_ body here waking up, with that other woman inside me, and I heard her conversation with you. I saw everything that was happening here, but as a spectator and without the possibility to intervene… at least until she passed out and I came back here.”

Arturia pulled back slightly in order to meet her husband’s eyes, and she seemed now anxious. “How much time has passed since she disappeared? How are you? And how are the children?”

Gilgamesh did not reply immediately. He kissed her, in a kiss that was brief but deep, making his actions ensure that he did not need to answer the question about himself.

“You woke up just a minute or two after she passed out,” he confirmed, and glanced at the window. “I am quite certain the children are playing with Enkidu, since I saw them run outside a moment ago.” His lips curved into a small grin. “It’s quite lucky for us that Enkidu is here, or else explaining this morning’s events to the children would have been decidedly… challenging.”

Even though he still wasn’t letting her out of the secure hold he had around her, he seemed much more relaxed since he had been able to see that she was back and was well. Now that he knew that his wife was safe, the fact that an unknown woman from a different world had briefly inhabited her body was unable to faze him.

Arturia leaned closer to him, letting her lips brush against his but then pulling back again. She had mentioned not being completely fine _emotionally_ , and she needed to address that ambiguous declaration, especially because she knew that Gilgamesh wasn’t likely to have forgotten it.

He waited with uncharacteristic patience as she remained lost in her thoughts for a while longer and ultimately focused on him.

“When I was in that limbo, I could _feel_ everything she was feeling, Gilgamesh.” Her expression contorted slightly, betraying how much that thought was tormenting her, and her lower lip trembled before she managed to control it. “We watched the series about her world, so we know her story – but it’s far from being enough to illustrate that immense amount of intense feelings. She has this… this _inferno_ of guilt and self-deprecation inside her. She is confident in her strengths and abilities, but she also shoulders so much responsibility, and she is genuinely convinced that those are her burdens to carry – which is what makes her so driven and desperate to succeed.”

She took a deep breath. “Feeling all her emotions makes me want to help her.”

“Arturia,” Gilgamesh’s tone was neutral, lacking any condescension, “you know that’s not possible.”

She nodded, unable to stop the feeling of melancholy from settling on her. She was aware that he had a point, as there was no possibility to intervene in a different world that had so mysteriously and inexplicably been put in contact with theirs without any logical reason.

She knew the story of the Servant King Arthur – summoned as Saber – inside the series she had watched; she knew that she was following the impossible dream of saving her kingdom and wouldn’t make it. There was something admirable in her determination despite knowing that it was unmanageable; Arturia thought that, deep down, Saber herself probably knew that it was unachievable, too. However, even if there _had_ been a way to communicate with that strange parallel world, it was clear that Saber was going to have to reach that conclusion by herself.

It was certainly going to be a tragic realization, but it was the only possible way in which Saber would accept it.

Gilgamesh’s hands carefully cupped Arturia’s cheeks, making her look at him.

“Do you want to stay in bed the rest of the day?”

His question was uttered with the same neutral tone he had used before. He knew she was unlikely to agree to his suggestion, but he would still ask, to let her choose what to do next. And coming from him, this was always a gesture she appreciated.

She shook her head slowly.

“We rarely have a day off together with the children _and_ Enkidu, we should take advantage of it,” she decided, her expression distending slightly as she started to stand up from the bed.

Gilgamesh copied her movements and kissed her once again, this time making the contact between them linger.

“Then we should go immediately, love.”

Arturia raised an eyebrow at him, noticing how he seemed unconcerned about the state they were in.

“At least let me find some _clothes_ first, Gilgamesh.”

As the excited chatter coming from the garden had already announced, their three kids were laughing outside with Enkidu while they worked together to spread a large blanket on the grass, in order to have a late picnic breakfast with the basket full of food they had found after solving Enkidu’s sly riddles.

Greeting everyone as she arrived hand-in-hand with Gilgamesh, Arturia found herself at the centre of attention as the children immediately crowded her anxiously, and she was quick to reassure them about her health. Enkidu, who was their guest for the whole weekend, gave her a thumbs-up to which she replied with a small grin. She had always liked Gilgamesh’s best friend, and she considered him very much part of their rapidly growing family.

Once they had all eaten the delicious breakfast – Enkidu could be mischievous and excitable, but he was also an incredibly gifted cook – Gilgamesh reluctantly let go of Arturia’s hand. He had not seemed bothered by having to use his left hand to eat, since it had allowed him to keep physical contact with his wife, but as they were now gathering the dishes to clean up, they needed both hands free.

Arturia blinked a few times as her sons started bickering over Enkidu’s latest card trick, while her daughter – who had already solved that small mystery but steadfastly refused to explain it to her brothers – pulled on her sleeve and insisted on making her sit down again next to her, this time on the grass and not on the blanket. The girl wanted to learn how to make flower crowns, and her mother indulged her.

Arturia forced herself to keep her eyes open, even as her mind started to wander. She wanted to focus on her beloved children, but she couldn’t help thinking about Saber once again.

She knew that, from her world, she could do nothing to help Saber. As much as she was affected by what she had felt as her body had been taken over for a while, she suspected it had been much more intense and odd for Saber herself, and she couldn’t help wondering whether such an experience would influence or even change her future actions in the world inside the series.

She could not explain why, but Arturia felt certain that their two worlds would not interact ever again. All she could do was mentally wish Saber the best, and fervently hope that some of her deep emotional wounds would one day be healed.

Her daughter was saying something to her, and Arturia immediately made herself listen – since she did not intend to ever ignore her children, not even when her mind was full – and replied to her inquiries about the plans for the day, as she had already discussed them with Gilgamesh earlier. On the other side of the garden, she saw Enkidu repeating the card trick for her sons, while Gilgamesh observed him keenly, making sure none of them would try to cheat.

His crimson eyes met her green ones for a moment, and the look in them softened.

She wasn’t able to hide from him how affected she was, but she knew that, even if exasperated and with a wide range of blunt comments to offer, he was going to listen if – _when_ – she wanted to talk about what had happened again. Arturia offered a small smile, conveying the fact that, while still dealing with the earlier events, she was indeed fine.

Gilgamesh nodded briefly and, when Enkidu called everyone over to show them his ‘best card trick ever’ and she sat down next to him once more, brought one arm around her waist. Without checking whether or not their children were distracted by their excited uncle, he pressed his lips to hers in a long, soft kiss.

In her world, Saber was fighting against Archer – Gilgamesh – and five other Servants; in this world, Arturia was spending a rare day off with her family: her beloved husband, their children and their best friend.

She would not neglect her own reality while vainly attempting to so something as dangerous and ultimately unsuccessful as interfering in a different world. She could not do that even if she wanted to, especially since she knew she would never forget the experience of being inside Saber’s haunted mind.

The only thing she could do was fully experience the life she had, the one she had built with Gilgamesh, the one she had fought for and that she was extremely grateful to have the chance to live.

…

……

…


End file.
